Read More+1926 “Veuve de Philippe Hüther”, a watch dealer and maker, registered the trademark “The Tudor” for Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf. 1936: “Veuve de Philippe Hüther” transferred the brand “The Tudor” to Hans Wilsdorf. During this time, the rose of the Tudor dynasty also appeared on the dials. 2015: TUDOR begins to manufacture watches with in-house movements. The first of these watches was the TUDOR North Flag. This was the followed by updated versions of the TUDOR Pegalos and TUDOR Heritage Black Bay having both been fitted with an in-house caliber.

The Birth of TUDOR

1947 The shield from the Tudor logo gradually begins to disappear only a year after the official launch of the brand. The logo then consists of only the company name and the rose, an emphasis of the brands elegance and style.

1952 The TUDOR Oyster Prince was launched, accompanied by a both original and striking advertisement for the era. 26 TUDOR Oyster Princes were included in the British scientific expedition to Greenland organised by the Royal Navy, proving the brands strength, reliability and precision.

1953 Rolex launched a campaign based on robustness test of the TUDOR Oyster Prince and it’s endurance in particularly difficult conditions. These included: a watch worn by a coal miner during 252 hours of hand excavation, a watch subjected to the vibrations of a pneumatic drill for 30 hours worn by a stone cutter for three months, a watch worn for a month while riveting metal girders is metal construction and a watch worn by a motorbike racer over a distance of 1,000 miles. The emphasis of these tests was placed on the strength of the watches, their precision, the winding and their water resistance.

1954 TUDOR’s first dive watch, the TUDOR Oyster Prince Submariner, sees the light of day. This watch is now known as one of the brands more legendary models to be evolved over the next 45 years to better meet the requirements of the divers for whom it became their dive tool of choice.

1955 The TUDOR Oyster Prince “Tuxedo” is named by collectors for the TUDOR Oyster Prince watches sporting a two-colour dial and large hour markers like that of the ref. 7950. The TUDOR Oyster Submariner became the first TUDOR submariner to have been equipped with a manually-wound movement, making it a particularly flat divers’ watch.

1957 The TUDOR Adviser alarm watch is launched as one of the brands more atypical models and the one in it’s history with an alarm function. From 1957 to 1977 three different versions of the TUDOR Adviser were produced. The TUDOR Adviser 7926 – an extremely rare and unique model – is launched with a “Jubilee” bracelet which was manufactured between 1957 to 1968. Only a few thousand were ever produced. The thinnest watch ever produced by TUDOR was launched being only 6mm thick and is one of the brands rarer models produced in small numbers between 1957 to 1963. IT went down in history during the late 1950’s as the thinnest waterproof TUDOR wristwatch and remains today as one of the brands most sought-after timepiece by collectors.

1958 Renamed the “Big Crown” by collectors, the TUDOR Oyster Submariner Prince seemed at first glance no different to it’s predecessors. However, it showed a fundamental innovation in that it’s waterproofness was from then on doubled to 200 meters.

1959 TUDOR proposed the principle of guards to protect the winding crown from shocks. The TUDOR Oyster Prince Submariner 7928 was produced in 1959 presenting these protections later named “Square Crown Guards” by collectors.

1960 the evolution of the ref. 7928 continued. The initial square crown guards were updated to more pointed ones earning them the nickname “Pointed Crown Guards” by collectors. This then changed once more to rounded guards several years later that would not change until the last of the TUDOR Submariners.

1964, a new version of the TUDOR Oyster Prince Submariner was produced with the new rounded crown guards. The dial subsequently underwent discolouration due to intense and prolonged exposure to UV rays pressing collectors to use the term “Tropical” to describe the greatly-prized change.

1967 The TUDOR Oyster Prince Ranger models were introduced in the 1960s and was first listed in the catalogue in 1969.

1969 Produced from 1969 onwards, the TUDOR Oyster Prince Day+Date is one of the largest TUDOR watches in the Prince line. It has a 37.5 mm case and a screw-down waterproof case back inscribed with “Montres TUDOR S.A Geneva Switzerland Patented”. Two new TUDOR Submariner references appeared, the 7016 and the 7021, with which began the second generation of TUDOR divers’ watches. This watch had larger, highly-visible square-shaped hour markers and instead of the rose logo the watch displayed a shield, a symbol of the brands resistance and reliability.

1970 The first TUDOR chronograph was named Oysterdate and was introduced in 1970. This watch featured a manually-wound Valjoux mechanical calibre 7734 and a cam mechanism chronograph. There were three variations of this sporty TUDOR chronograph differentiated by their types of bezel.

1971 A second series of Oysterdate chronographs known today by collectors by the name “Montecarlo” provided both technical improvements and stylistic evolution. The introduction of the blue dial and bezel variants in this series left a lasting impression.

1995 Reference 79190 of the TUDOR Prince Date Submariners appeared in the catalogue in 1995 as the last TUDOR Submariner reference produced. It included multiple developments, including a sapphire crystal with a Cyclops lense, round hour markers and a unidirectional rotatable bezel.

2015 TUDOR begins to manufacture watches with in-house movements. The first of these watches was the TUDOR North Flag. This was the followed by updated versions of the TUDOR Pegalos and TUDOR Heritage Black Bay having both been fitted with an in-house caliber